‘Āina

Ledward Kaapana remembers his Uncle Fred Punahoa playing the song “Radio Hula” in Kalapana: “In the morning, like one, two o’clock in the morning. In Kalapana, it’s so quiet, so… you know, and it’s dark, and so, he used to just sit outside on the porch, and play his guitar. I don’t know if you ever experienced sleeping…and hear one guitar just playing sweet music that just wake you up and like, ‘Oh, so sweet,’” Kaapana remembers. “Radio Hula” is one of the songs that Ledward Kaapana, along with his sisters Lehua Nash, Rhoda Kekona, and Lei Aken play in his Kaneohe garage on a rainy evening. They also share an energetic slack key performance of “Kuu Ipo Onaona,” and Ledward honors the late Dennis Kamakahi with “Kokee.”

Founded in 1836 by King Kamehameha III, the Royal Hawaiian Band has
provided audiences the world over with a continual connection to Hawai‘i’s
royal heritage. During this vintage concert set on the grounds of historic
Iolani Palace, Bandmaster Aaron Mahi pays tribute to one of his predecessors,
Henry Berger, Royal Hawaiian Bandmaster from 1871 to 1915 and sometimes called
the “Father of Hawaiian music.”

This vintage episode presents a rare solo slack key concert with George Winston, best known the world over for his evocative piano music, musical interpretations of the ever-changing seasons of his childhood Montana home. But ki ho‘alu, slack key guitar music, has been his passion for many years. In this NĀ MELE classic, Winston performs his “Montana-ized” versions of such slack key classics as: “Sweet Lei Mamo” by Charles Hopkins; “None Hula” by Lena Machado; and Leonard Kwan’s “Nahe Nahe.”

As the daughter of a wildlife biologist father and kumu hula mother, Ulalia Woodside’s passion for the natural world was rooted in her since childhood. This early passion blossomed into a career in protecting Hawai‘i’s diverse natural resources. She is now Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i.

This program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, Dec. 30, at 4:00 pm and 11:30 pm.

And we are, aren’t we, the state that has the most quickly-disappearing species.

We continue to be an endangered species capital. The Bishop Museum, not that long ago, had an exhibit on feather work and Hawaiian birds, and they also had a timeline up on the wall of when birds went extinct. And … it brought tears to my eyes to stand there, and to look at when I was born, and I don’t remember the number of birds, and to see the number of birds that had gone extinct in my life. That was hard to look at.

She grew up tagging along with her father as he worked on nature preserves. And now, she is protecting many of those special places of Hawai‘i. Ulalia Woodside, next, on Long Story Short.

One-on-one engaging conversations with some of Hawai‘i’s most intriguing people: Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox.

Aloha mai kākou. I’m Leslie Wilcox. Ulalia Woodside has dedicated her career to managing and protecting the lands and other natural resources of Hawai‘i. She’s also a kumu hula with a deep connection to the Hawaiian culture. In 2016, Woodside became the executive director of the Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, overseeing forty thousand acres of preservation areas, not only Hawai‘i, but as far away as Palmyra Atoll, which is a thousand miles south of the Hawaiian Islands. Her love of the land and her culture came to her early and easily, taught by example by her parents. Her mother, Leiana Woodside, was a kumu hula and curator at the Queen Emma Summer Palace, and her father, David Woodside, was a wildlife biologist and naturalist.

I was very fortunate to be born and raised in Waimānalo. I think I had a unique upbringing. My parents had me a little later in life. My mother was forty-four when she had me, my father was forty-six. Now, that’s nothing, but back in the day, that was considered late. You know, my mother was born and raised in a Hawaiian lifeway. Her mother, and her mother before her, they had this vision of what it means to be a Hawaiian woman. And in our family, my grandmother embodied that. She embodied what it meant to be a Hawaiian woman, or this image of Haumea, the goddess, the deity, that energy that is the life source of creation and of birth. That Haumea takes many forms.

What was your grandmother’s name?

My grandmother was Ida Pakulani Ka‘aihue Kai‘anui. And you know, she was born in 1888, and she passed away in, I think it’s 1974 or 1976.

So, born during the days of the monarchy, and died after all the cultural unrest of America.

And statehood; right.

And after Hawai‘i’s statehood; yes.

Yes; until statehood. So, you’re exactly right. And because my mother is the youngest daughter of fifteen children—she’s number thirteen, and my mother has me at forty-four, what this means is, I have this really short linkage back to 1888, in a way; right? And so, our family traditions really compact in these two generations, is the way that I was raised. And I think that’s quite unique. It made it challenging going to school at times. You know, your parents are listening to Frank Sinatra, and your friends’ parents are listening to, you know, the Beatles or, you know, Neil Diamond, or something a little bit more contemporary, and we didn’t have a television when I grew up. My mother wanted to have a yard that had Hawaiian plants in it. She wanted a lo‘i, so right there on the beach in Waimanalo, my father created a lo‘i for her. So, I grew up working in the lo‘i there in Waimānalo. We went fishing. My father and I would lay net back in the days when, you know, you still could lay net. In my community, there weren’t a lot of children my age, so I went to work with my parents, I went to board meetings with my parents. I went to Audubon Society Christmas bird counts with my father from a young age. I guess it’s a shift in how we raise our families nowadays. My parents didn’t spend their days taking me to my activities, except hula. You know, my upbringing was going with my mother as she would develop hula productions for State Foundation Culture and the Arts, or for the Aloha Week Festival. And she would really have the leaders and the influencers of kumu hula, and they’d design these productions together. My father would help with the staging and the plants. And you know, those were the things that I needed to participate in.

Now, hula is very intensive, and if you’re passionate about it, you can’t have enough of it. But there are some kids who say: Oh, no, do I have to go today again? What was your situation?

You know, I started dancing hula before I could remember. I have pictures of me, very young, dancing hula. And it was non-negotiable.

Nobody asked; right?

Nobody asked.

You just did it.

And there was never gonna be a time when hula was not gonna be a part of my life. So, that connection with hula, that responsibility to hula, was there from the beginning, and will be there ‘til the end. But it was not something that I could in any way step away from by choice.

But did you want to?

You want to, and then there was a lot of crying involved with hula.

Do I have to do that again, you mean?

And in that way, you know, when your grandmother—my grandmother was a kumu hula, my mother and two of her sisters were kumu hula, there’s an expectation of how you will perform. And there’s an expectation of excellence, there’s an expectation that you will grasp quickly the dance or the chant that you need to learn. And that wasn’t always the case, and sometimes I didn’t want to practice. Sometimes I wanted to play, sometimes my feet didn’t do what they were supposed to do. But there are so many things that hula teaches you, and it’s something that has existed in my life. You learn that you can do almost anything. You can do things you might not want to do, and you can do them well.

Now, was your dad Hawaiian as well?

My father wasn’t Hawaiian. But he was born and raised in Kapa‘au, Kohala on Hawai‘i Island, and his father came to Hawai‘i to be a part of the Kohala Mill system that they had. So they had long roots here in Hawai‘i, but he wasn’t Hawaiian. This was his homeland; it was the only homeland he knew. He loved this place, and he loved the values and the way of life these islands had created. So, the forest and those plants created a relationship that we have with them, created this aloha ‘āina, this concept of mālama‘āina, this responsibility to place. And he embraced that, and that was his career. My father had spent the majority of his career and his life in remote places caring for Hawai‘i, caring for the natural resources, the forests, the birds. And so, when they came together, they brought their two worlds together.

He let you tag along in his work, which was fascinating and beautiful, out in the outdoors and with the discipline of understanding the environment. What was that like? Where’d you go? What’d you do?

I distinctly remember we went out to Mānana, Rabbit Island, right off of Waimānalo and there were rabbits on that island. And one of the things that my father did was spend a lot of time in remote places. He went to Jarvis Atoll and Rose Atoll, he went up to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Tern Island, Nihoa, Necker, Mokumanamana, and he’d spend long time there. And one of the things that he would do when he would go to places is he would eradicate small mammalian predators, or he’d eradicate things that were disrupting the natural system there; sometimes cats. And on Rabbit Island, it was rabbits. And so, it had been years when rabbits weren’t supposed to be on Mānana anymore, but we’d go there, and there’s a rabbit on the island. And I remember my father getting the gun out. And we were with a number of other of his adult wildlife friends, and they’re doing their thing. We’re on a bird count, and we’re studying. And I am jumping up and down: Run, rabbit, run, get away, get away, get away!

And you know, it … it was dispatched. My father dispatched that rabbit. And then we cleaned it, he and I cleaned it, and then we ate it that night. But I got to do these really interesting things with him. And going to Mānana was one of those really transformational days. You have an ‘ewa‘ewa chick, sooty tern chick, just a puffball of fuzz in your hand. Rob Shallenberger used to work with my father at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and he’s also a great photographer. And he took this picture of me, and you can just see in my face how excited I am to have this little puffball in my hand.

As a child, Ulalia Woodside yearned to be like her father, working in the field and watching out for nature. And that’s the path she started on as a young adult. But she steered in new directions, finding other ways to help the lands and reefs of Hawai‘i.

My very first job was a place where my father worked for a number of years, the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The Land Division needed student help, a student helper position, so right out of high school, I think two months or so after I graduated, I started working for the Department of Land and Natural Resources. And it was a tremendous experience. I worked there all through my undergraduate years, until I got my bachelor’s degree. And I learned about land tenure in Hawai‘i, I learned about state leases, I learned about shoreline issues, I learned about long tenured families that have long deeds that go back to Kamehameha V.

Were you doing paperwork, or were you out in the field?

It evolved. So, when was a student helper, I mostly made copies. I also was a clerk typist for a period of time, and at that time, I got to see the leasing documents come through.

So, you were reading the documents as well as processing.

Right. You know, file them and understand them, different islands, the different issues that are going on. And after I graduated from college with my bachelor’s degree, I worked there for a little bit of time as a land agent.

What does a land agent do?

So, at that time, I was helping process shoreline certifications. So, people who would like to build or develop on coastal properties, you frequently need to identify where the shoreline is, because there are specific regulations about setback. It really taught me a lot about, you know, how things happen. It was an incredible growth period for me.

All while you’re going to college and learning.

All while I’m going to college.

What were you studying in college?

In college, I was studying political science. And then, I also got a second degree in Hawaiian studies, and I got a certificate in Hawaiian language. And so, at the time, with the political science, I was thinking of going to law school at the time. And had some other friends that were in political science, and they were moving on to law school, but I was working, you know, with the state.

So far, you’re following a similar path to your father, but you’re taking it in a different direction, ‘cause you’re interested in the decision-making and the issues involving regulation.

At that time, I was, you know, I really was interested in that. And shortly after I finished high school, the State of Hawai‘i workforce went through a really large reduction in force. And so, I had only been now in my permanent land agent position, was the bottom of the rung position for just a couple of years. Not even two years, I think. And so, there was somebody else with greater seniority than I did, and so with that reduction in force …

You got bumped.

I got bumped. I got bumped out of that position. And you know, if that hadn’t happened, I do think about, would I still be working at the Department of Land and Natural Resources today if that hadn’t happened?

After losing her position with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Ulalia Woodside entered graduate school at the University of Hawai‘i to study urban and regional planning. From there, she took a new job in the private sector, where her interests expanded beyond land management and conservation and into cultural preservation.

And then, I went to a private planning and engineering firm that worked with the Department of Transportation to repair highways or build big highways, and you know, DOT Airports, and you know, had to go out to the community of Keaukaha and talk about the runway that’s next door, to speak to people who want to build industrial parks in areas, and large resort developments, and golf courses. And so, seeing that side of the equation gave me another level of understanding of our lands here, how decisions are made, why we see that building where we see it. And it was a hard time. When was working there, the requirement for a cultural impact assessment became law. And prior to that, it wasn’t a requirement. Being able to be a part on that front edge of trying to put this into place, and going out and speaking to people of place, and gathering their stories, and then coming back and finding ways in which by incorporating what is about this place actually creates a project.

Why was it a hard phase?

It was a hard time because at times, you know, you’d sit across from somebody that had a piece of property, and you know, in the environmental review process, you do a biological assessment, you do an archaeological assessment. You see all of these, all of these treasures that they have on their property. And I remember sitting there, and I remember the gentleman looking at me and he said: I just want to cut it up and sell it. And I, you know, was jazzed. We had found, you know, this ‘ilima on the property, and this. And it made me think about the other skills that we might need in those conversations. And it also made me think about how the energy within our community helps to shape the change of something. And what I mean by that is, that awareness of what you have on your property of natural resources and cultural resources, that’s also known by the community. And that community can inspire a developer or a landowner to create something that is even better than what they may have had in mind in integrating and incorporating that unique plant that you found, or that portion of a trail that happens to come through their property. And that really, really got me inspired.

In 2002, Ulalia Woodside joined Kamehameha Schools to work on ‘āina-based educational programs, which ultimately changed how Kamehameha Schools and other Hawai‘i landowners managed their natural resources, including lands.

I was very fortunate at that time, as I was going through that work and starting to get itchy, to be able to be proactive. And at that time, the Kamehameha Schools had gone through a redevelopment of their strategic plan in 2000, and their land division that managed their agriculture and conservation lands was revisiting how they manage those lands in line now with the new strategic plan that really saw those lands not as separate from the mission.

Not commodities, but part of who Kamehameha Schools is.

And also, a platform through which the mission could be achieved.

I see; with people.

With people, and with education. I was very fortunate to be invited there by Neil Hannahs. Enjoyed working with him for … almost fifteen years. There was a kīpuka, there was this stronghold on Kaua‘i, and one of the first projects I got to work with was out in Waipā, Kaua‘i on the north shore of Kaua‘i with the Sproat family and the Mahuiki family at that time, and the Hawaiian farmers of Hanalei. And they recognized the value in their ahupua‘a, and it had been used for, you know, ranching over the years. But that community remembered the taro traditions, and they still raised kalo, and that’s what they felt was the abundance and the wealth of Waipā. But they were talking to Kamehameha Schools, I think, in the 80s or so, and you know, it was at a time when Kamehameha Schools was actually considering putting in a development.

I remember that.

And they had to find a way to develop a use that would be productive on the lands, would recognize Kamehameha Schools’ needs, but also leave room for being proactive about the growing the community and also where we could be. So, one of those great lessons, you know, I learned of my time there is, when you work for a perpetual organization that at that time had been around for a hundred and fifty years, you know, your spot is about this big on that spectrum. You know, what are you gonna do in that spot on that spectrum, and are you gonna do some things that make it harder for those that come down the spectrum, or is what you’re doing keeping the door open, setting the table? Is it creating an opportunity for those that are going to come after it? And that’s what the Hawaiian farmers of Hanalei and those families did, is they found a way to be productive users of the land, create capacity within their community, and start to pilot and showcase what a thriving ahupua‘a looks like, with students and learning happening there, which then set the table for us to take that to a whole different place.

So, those were very important years for Kamehameha, and those decisions that were made.

Yeah.

In 2016, Ulalia Woodside was selected to be the executive director of the Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i. Big job, overseeing the protection of nature preserves across the ridges and reefs of Hawai‘i, and in many of the same areas that her father helped to protect.

In working at Kamehmeha Schools, being able to think about this return on investment, and the changes that we were making to create this abundance in place, we had worked alongside the Nature Conservancy as partners across the table with the Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance, working together in developing management strategies. We frequently visited each other’s property to see how species were being managed, how they were thriving, to learn those lessons from each other. And so, when there was the opportunity to join the Nature Conservancy, I valued the work that had been done there. And also, you know, working at Kamehameha Schools, even when you work for the State, you’re carrying on a legacy. And I really thought about the legacy of the Conservancy in Hawai‘i since 1980, and the change that they had brought to Hawai‘i, the idea, the concept that there are certain lands that are so special that we should set them aside, and we should protect those lands so that what’s unique about them gets preserved. Now, at the Nature Conservancy, one of the places that we manage is Palmyra Atoll, a thousand miles south of Hawai‘i. I knew my father went to all of these atolls, but I came to learn that he was a part of the group that went out to Palmyra and identified the biological importance of that place, and integrity of that place, and was part of the effort to protect it, and to see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognize that place as an important place that needs to be protected, and to help to encourage and work with the Nature Conservancy in order to set that place apart so that those rare species, those coconut crabs, the largest breeding colony of red-footed boobies in the world, that that continues to exist, a reef like no other.

It just seems like everything you’ve been through took you to this place, this job that you hold now. Do you feel like that?

I think life finds its way. And I do feel like I have stayed a course. I have followed in the footsteps of my parents. But I have evolved along the way. I have been that Haumea and that shapeshifter that has moved along the way. I try to find places where I can be relevant, where I can help improve the condition of our world that we live in, that I can make connections between people and nature so that we might be inspired to have a home that is thriving along with us. And I’ve been very, very fortunate to find people to spend time with and to find employers and places where I can work towards that mission, work towards that mission of ensuring that we have Island Earth, our earthly home, our earth home and our island home, our Pacific home thrives in that way.

Not an easy job. And it takes constant management.

It’s not an easy job. It takes constant management. But if we come back to hula … it is about the collective, and it is about recognizing that together, we produce something that is amazing.

Ulalia Woodside says she’ll continue to use valuable insights from her hula experience to bring together different people and organizations, and preserve and protect the natural resources of Hawai‘i and beyond. Mahalo to Ulalia Woodside of Waimanalo, O‘ahu. And thank you, for joining us for this edition of Long Story Short on PBS Hawai‘i. I’m Leslie Wilcox. Aloha nui.

For audio and written transcripts of all episodes of Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox, visit PBSHawaii.org. To download free podcasts of Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox, go to the Apple iTunes Store or visit PBSHawaii.org.

So, between regular school and summer school, I would go with him to work. And he was managing Ki‘i Refuge. Now it’s known as James Campbell Refuge out in Kahuku. California grass would grow very, very quickly, so driving the tractor and mowing the berms, and keeping the grass down was one of my responsibilities.

Kukui and Gary Maunakea-Forth of O‘ahu, Stacy Sproat-Beck of Kaua‘i and Richard Ha of Hawai‘i Island have built ‘āina-based enterprises focused on building better communities. Hear how these visionaries behind MA‘O Organic Farms, Waipā Foundation and the former Hamakua Springs Country Farms have put their values to work for the greater good.

Program

This program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, Dec. 23, at 4:00 pm and 11:30 pm.

We always plan five, ten years out. We’re always looking for where we need to be in the future. And we already know that this is happening, it’s gonna get worse, so we’re already moving in that direction.

Stacy Sproat-Beck

I remember asking that question when I was in college. You know; what about a nonprofit? Because I knew it was there, and it was really an amazing opportunity, you know, to be able to grow this entity that is really for the community, and to take care of the land, and to teach people.

Kukui Maunakea-Forth

That’s what I love most about what we do, is that we’re providing this way for young people at an early age to build equity. You know, and it’s not just financial equity, but it’s also equity in terms of the relationships that we’re creating with other people in our community, and with the land.

Every entrepreneur seeks professional success. An uncommon few also aim to build a better community. Coming up on Long Story Short, our conversations with four individuals who are among a rare breed of business and community leaders.

One-on-one engaging conversations with some of Hawai‘i’s most intriguing people: Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox.

Aloha mai kākou. I’m Leslie Wilcox. On this edition of Long Story Short, community builders. It takes a remarkable type of person to look beyond their own family, business, and circumstances, maybe beyond their own lifetime, and work to make life better for the broader community over the long haul. To illustrate the impact these individuals can have, we revisit four entrepreneurs running distinctive businesses and nonprofits on three different islands. We think it’s worth another look at what these innovators have accomplished, putting their vision and values to work, and how they empower people in their communities.

First up, Gary and Kukui Maunakea-Forth. Though they come from different places—New Zealand and Nānākuli, this married couple came together through shared concerns about social conditions on the Wai‘anae Coast of O‘ahu. And when it came time to start their enterprise in 2001, making money was far from the top priority. Now the largest organic farm on O‘ahu, the nonprofit MA‘O Organic Farms is providing much more than food. It’s creating a future for young people in West O‘ahu, and educating leaders for the next generation.

Gary Maunakea-Forth

I think the first place it came down to was the fact that we weren’t growing our own food. We definitely worried about the kids in our community. But I think because we saw all this land that was being wrongly used, we just kept asking ourselves: Why aren’t we feeding ourselves? And then, we dug a little bit deeper, and one of our friends who’s a soil scientist said it turns out that the soil in Lualualei Valley is one of the most unique and nutrient rich soils in the world. And we didn’t know that, and kids in our community weren’t taught that. The connection to the land had been severed. And we still to this day, those kids that come up to the farm, they’ve never been up in the valleys. And so, I think that’s where it started. And then, you know, definitely as our kids started to get a little bit older and go through the same problems that other kids were going through, our connection to what kids in Wai‘anae, what kids in rural Hawai‘i are going through started to just, you know, really sort of slap us in the face; you know, the idea that a good public education is very difficult to get in Hawai‘i.

We didn’t want to just grow food and eat it ourselves. We wanted it to be highly marketable. Because, you know, when we analyzed our community, the state of poverty was multigenerational. And we thought that if we sell our own food for a premium price, that money wouldn’t go back to our community. And so, we looked at the kind of social service kinds of things that we had been doing ourselves and that others were doing, and we wanted to add this what at the time was called community-based economic development. But we wanted to add this economic development layer that now has become social enterprise. And so, that’s where it started.

Kukui Maunakea-Forth

I wanted it to be this great education program, and I wanted, you know, this element of culture and, you know, this element of vocational skills being taught, and this element of community work being done. And it just didn’t happen like that at all. It was whatever, you know, resources and people that were sort of there at the time. And it started off as a ten-month-long experience; you know, farm work experience.

So, who were you first enrollees?

Kukui Maunakea-Forth

Multi people that we had talked to their parents at Tamura’s. Or we saw down at the beach park and said: Hey, you know, we’re starting a program; would you guys like to, you know, send your daughter? Oh, yeah; my daughter’s graduating, and she doesn’t really have plans; sure, we’ll sign her up.

Those people that were meant to be there, ended up there. And, you know, all of us, you know, growing up on the Coast, the fact that there’s only eleven percent that will go to college; that’s a small number. So, what about the other eighty-eight, ninety percent that aren’t going to college; where are those guys? And, you know, we thought long and hard about who we wanted to have this opportunity, and to have this experience. And it was really those that were going to become the leaders. So, this eighteen to twenty-four-year-old Wai‘anae or Nānākuli graduate that had a desire to do something different, and to connect with not only the culture, but with a future in the community.

Gary Maunakea-Forth

Almost every young person that has been in touch with MA‘O—and this is pretty much the condition of the Wai‘anae Coast, you know, the federal government calls them at-risk. And if you look deep at the statistics, you’ll find that Waianae has twice the teen pregnancy rate, twice the substance abuse rate. All of these indicators are terrible, twice as bad as anywhere else. And so, most of the kids that come have issues at home, or in their own lives that they’ve got to deal with. On top of that, you know, we’re told in this society that if you go and get a college education, you can get ahead in life, you know, you can get your American Dream. Most of the kids coming out of the public schools in the State of Hawai‘i and in Wai‘anae are what’s termed remedial. And so, they have to be highly motivated.

When we started MA‘O, we wanted to start it with an associate degree program. That took us three or four years to gain momentum, because when we went to Leeward Community College initially, they were like: Well, let’s do a noncredit program. And so, we started with this ten-month-long program. And now, the various programs we have through MA‘O are sort of designed to be like a movement, to have this environment of entrepreneurship, of I want to get ahead, I want to work hard, I want to give to my community.

Kukui Maunakea-Forth

Over time, you know, we nurture trust, and respect, and love.

Gary Maunakea-Forth

And when kids first come to the farm, they generally come because we’re gonna help them pay for college and give them a stipend. The farming, they could live without some of them.

So, in 2003, I think, was our first real official ten-person youth leadership training of these young people just straight out of college. And one of them went through the whole ten-months, and during that ten months he turned eighteen, and he was all over the place.

He was just growing up. And anyway, he stuck it out, and now, he’s still with us, and he’s twenty-five years old. And he’s now the assistant farm manager. His name is Manny. He represents what we believe is the untapped potential of young men in Waianae. He can run the farm himself. I’ve seen him talk story with Alan Wong about food, talk story with Ed Kenney about food. At one of the fundraisers, he was talking about the farm to Pierre Omidyar, who’s a billionaire. He represents, I believe, what a young farmer in the State of Hawai‘i should be. Not just a person who’s able to toil in the fields, but he can talk about the vegetables, he can cook the vegetables.

You know, we’ve tried to take the farming part of it, and make it sexy, and make it interesting. And the best and easiest way to do that is to allow the young people to do, firstly, a bit of everything.

M-hm.

So, they get typecast weeding a lot.

But they also get to do all the other jobs. You know, packing vegetables to go to Town Restaurant, or to go to Whole Foods is one of those things where they start to see the pride in doing it.

And the connection.

And get connection; yeah. And so, if they’re at KCC Farmers Market selling vegetables, that’s the ultimate job. You know, we’re hoping now that the next step for us is that especially some of the young people who really all of a sudden like farming will be farmers, and will either farm larger spaces with us, or go off by themselves.

Kukui Maunakea-Forth

I think that’s what I love most about what we do, is that we’re providing this way for young people at an early age to build equity. You know, and it’s not just financial equity, but it’s also equity in terms of the relationships that we’re creating with other people in our community, and with the land that feeds them.

Since 2009 when this interview first aired, MA‘O Organic Farms has continued to do well. In 2018, a record twenty-one students graduated from the program with high school and college degrees, including from a new four-year program in sustainable community food systems at UH West O‘ahu. While we enjoy the vegetables, MA‘O is really growing the leaders of tomorrow.

Now, we head over to Kaua‘i’s North Shore, where Stacy Sproat-Beck is pursuing some similar goals at the WaipāFoundation. The Waipāeducational mission includes connecting people to the land, using natural resources responsibly, strengthening family, cultural, and community ties, and preserving a way of life. In 2014, Stacy Sproat-Beck told us why she was a world away from the work her business school professors expected her to pursue.

You went to USC, a very fine business school. What was the experience of going to college at USC like? I mean, there are a lot of wealthy scions, you know, sons and daughters of magnates.

It was kind of a culture shock. You know, not so much being in a city that size, or in a school that size, because you know, I’d lived here for six years in Honolulu, and gone to Kamehameha. And this is a big city, too. But definitely, USC was kind of a culture shock for me, and I didn’t fit in that well. And you know, I’d raise my hand and go: What about family business? And they go: Oh, no, no, no; don’t talk about that. You know, family business is really hard. And I go: Oh, what about nonprofits? And they go: Nonprofits? You know, maybe we’ll bring somebody in to talk about nonprofits, but nonprofits aren’t really where the money is. And so, it was kind of a different thing for me. But I still feel like I gained a lot of knowledge and important skills from going there, definitely. It was an amazing education.

When you came home, I think you were aware of what was going on, but weren’t there for a lot of the fireworks. There was a lot of militance about the way land was going on the North Shore, the push for resort development, and the move away from a rural lifestyle.

On Kaua‘i?

M-hm.

Yeah. It seems like that was happening. Yeah; that was happening throughout our childhood and youth, and my parents were really active, and my family was really active and fighting development, and wanting to manage it, really, and not just let it get out of hand.

And in fact, they were fighting Kamehameha Schools, where you’d attended, owner of Waipa.

Yeah; in the early 80s then, yes, Kamehameha became one of the entities that wanted to develop their landholdings there on the North Shore. They were in development mode, and so, their plans for Waipāand Lumahai were golf courses, resort communities. Back then, it was all about developing the land so they could make money to support the school at Kapālama and the Estate. Eventually, after four years of activism and negotiation, and the default of the potential developer, they were able to obtain a lease from Kamehameha for the sixteen-hundred-acre ahupua‘a of Waipā, which is an intact watershed. It’s amazing.

I moved home in ’92, and I really started helping at Waipāin ’94. And it was really just difficult. There were a lot of different challenges and issues.

And you were doing this as a volunteer?

Yeah. Well, farming with my husband on the side, helping manage Waipāon a volunteer basis. And then also, I think I was doing promotions for a boat company to actually make money to pay my bills. When Kamehameha went through strategic planning in 2000-2001, they changed their whole viewpoint on land management and revenue-generating lands, versus lands for culture and education. And also, kind of right around that same time, all of these other difficulties that we had just sort of went away.

What do you do on the sixteen-hundred-acre property?

My dad guys envisioned that the original founders, it was to be a land base for the practice and perpetuation of Hawaiian culture. And so, that was their vision. And so, we continue to perpetuate that today by doing programs for kids that connect them with the land, and also, you know, we do enrichment programs and leadership, and cultural programs. And they’re in the garden and harvesting, and also just swimming in the streams and maybe doing a lot of the things that I did as a kid, that we all did. And I feel like what that does today is, it connects us back to the earth, when a lot of us are just busy living somewhat urban lives. It’s helping them to make the connection. So, we do programs for kids. We do resource management. You know, we manage learning sites, and sites that we’re restoring. We have a fishpond that we’re restoring along the coast, and then we’ve got lo‘i, taro fields, and gardens, and a native plants nursery. And then, up in the valley, we’re doing reforestation. And then, sort of teaching and learning through all of that. And even another thing that’s really amazing to us is that we’ve planted a lot of fruit trees lately, orchards of fruit trees, everything from longan and lychee, to mango, and oranges, and avocado, and ulu, star fruit. And really to be able to create abundance, lots of food, because you know, we know the importance of having lots of food there, both to feed ourselves and you know, to share with community, and then to market too. But also being able to take the kids out. Oh, and mountain apples, too; that’s a big one. Being able to take the kids out and let them pick their own snacks off the trees. I mean, we grew up with that, but kids nowadays—

They look for a box.

It blows their mind when they go out and are able to pick mountain apples and eat them. It’s just the most amazing experience for them. And for us, I think, that should be so basic, you know.

What’s the goal for WaipāFoundation now in the ahupua‘a?

So, our vision is a thriving an abundant ahupua‘a, and a healthy community that’s connected to their resources. And so, it’s both … yeah, exactly that. Just thriving and abundant, with land and resources being healthy, and feeding us in many ways, both physically, spiritually, and then also community that is connected to the place that helps to take care of it, and is nourished by it, and also actively manages and takes care of the land. And I think that’s our vision specifically for Waipā, but also, it’s a larger vision. You know, Waipācould be just a microcosm of the State or the island, or the world, where everybody is directly connected to the resources that feed them and take care of them.

Our next guest may not have started out with quite the same intentions as Stacy Sproat-Beck or the Maunakea-Forths. Richard Ha went into the family farming business, and the founded his own farm on the Hāmākua Coast of Hawai‘i Island. Along the way, Ha found that his business expertise and entrepreneurial vision prepared him to make progress on challenging issues like sustainability, food security, and renewable energy. Ha always tries to stay ahead of curve, anticipating the next big need. It all started with the can-do attitude he learned from his dad.

When you saw your dad farming, and you were playing with tomatoes, did you think: I want to grow up and be a farmer?

No. Actually, what happened was, I ended up wanting to go into business or into having some kind of organization to be in charge of. And the reason that happened was because Dad used tell stories when I was about ten years old. We had this kitchen table that was like a picnic table, with a bench and everything. And he would tell stories about impossible situations. You know, a business situation, or he had all kinds of different situations. And it would come down to he came up against a stonewall, there was no way to figure it out, and he’d pound the table, and the dishes would all fly. He would say—boom; Not no can; can! I remember that pretty clearly.

Not no can; can.

Yeah.

It’s about problem-solving and the will to overcome the problem.

Yeah. It was just a given that you just don’t come up to a problem and look at and say: Oh, that’s it. You know, there was always a way around it.

What were you gonna do with your accounting degree?

You know, actually, I didn’t really know. I just knew that I had an accounting degree, and if anything came up, I was gonna do it. But it just so happened Pop asked me to come back and run his chicken farm. I said: Okay, well, I don’t have anything planned; I’ll do that. So, I came back, helped him run the poultry farm, and in the course of that, met the supermarket people, learned how marketing and that kinda stuff worked.

And you learned from the ground, up on that end; right?

Yeah; yeah. I mean, we raised chickens when we were little, but the business end of it was different, you know. And with an accounting degree, it helped me to analyze stuff. And so, what happened was, we had forty acres, and twenty-five of it was in the chicken farm, so we had some extra land. And so, we needed to find out what could we do with no more money. ‘Cause I only had a three hundred dollar credit card. Back then it was hard to get a three hundred dollar credit card. So, we started doing some research, and found out that there was about six million pounds of Chiquita Bananas being imported into Hawai‘i. So, I said: Oh, man, if we could get into that, we should be able to do okay. So, we started trading chicken manure for banana keiki, and started two acres.

At what point did you have your own farm?

Well, yeah; that was my dad’s farm, and we made it into a four-way corporation with my brothers. And then, from there, I went to Kapoho to lease some land over there. And that’s when it started, maybe two years after we started the first banana farm. And then, when the sugar plantations started closing down, we were able to move closer in to Hilo, at Kea‘au. So, we moved the farm there. At Kea‘au, we expanded to three hundred acres, and by then, we became the largest banana farm in the State.

Are you confident that local people will buy local produce, even if it’s more expensive?

Well, you know, it’s really what we need to do to support our local farmers, because to be food-secure, farmers gotta make money. And come the time when we feel like this is really a serious situation, it’ll happen. And everybody’s talking about food security. Now, how do we do that? And the answer is, if the farmer can make money, the farmer will farm. So, it doesn’t get much more complex than that. So, in an effort to figure out ways to help farmers make money, you know, with the help of the Department of Ag and the legislators, and a bunch of people, we pushed through legislation so that farmers could get cheap loans, low interest, long-term loans for renewable energy projects. And how we look at it is how it affects our workers, our community, and the environment. Every Thursday, our workers can come and just pick up all the different things we grow—bananas and tomatoes, and whatever, you know, as much as they need for their family. And we have profit sharing, although it’s been tough the last few years. We have profit sharing, and we want to look, you know, toward whatever we can do to help them with the food side of it. Because it’s hard for us to raise our workers’ salaries, because we can’t raise the price. Everybody’s having hard time. So, we have to figure out other ways to help our workers.

Keaukaha Elementary School, a Hawaiian Homelands community, and a school that was in the academic basement for twenty years; you adopted a class there.

Yeah. What happened was, I volunteered to be on this thirty meter telescope subcommittee on the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board. And so, when you talk about telescopes, you automatically talk about the culture. Maua Kea, you need to talk about the culture. If you talk about the culture, you end up at Keaukaha. It’s a seventy-five-year-old Hawaiian Homes community. And so, that’s where I ended up. Yeah; so I went over there, talked to Kumu Lehua about telescopes, and had to learn a lot the culture. I didn’t know as much as I do now. I was mostly worried about farming. But you know, the more I got into it, the more I needed to learn. And then, what was ironic was, here I am on the thirty meter telescope subcommittee, and you’re standing in Keaukaha, you look at the mountain; there’s hundreds of millions of dollars of investment up there. You look back at the school and the community. So, you know, there’s nothing here of tangible relationship to that. But whatever the case, we decided this no can; we had to do something.

What do you see yourself doing in ten years?

You know, it’s hard to say what it’ll be, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be something that I can’t imagine now. Because we always end up doing something that’s new and different. Yeah; so I expect that it’ll be something new and different, but it’ll be something, for sure.

And it’ll be in farming?

I can’t even say that. I don’t want to just say one particular thing. But it really has to do with where our society is going, what our circumstance will be.

Since this interview first aired in 2008, we can now tell you what Richard Ha is doing. In 2016, he closed Hāmākua Springs Country Farms and was awarded one of the first Hawaii licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana with a company called Lau Ola. In the fall of 2018, he left Lau Ola after steering the company through its startup phase. He said he’ll continue in the agriculture and energy industries.

Richard Ha, Stacy Sproat-Beck, and Gary and Kukui Maunakea-Forth all continue to grow their own enterprises, while building better communities across our state. We thank them for their vision and can-do attitude, and for sharing their stories with us. We hope they’ve inspired you. Mahalo for watching. For Long Story Short and PBS Hawai‘i, I’m Leslie Wilcox. Aloha nui.

For audio and written transcripts of all episodes of Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox, visit PBSHawaii.org. To download free podcasts of Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox, go to the Apple iTunes Store or visit PBSHawaii.org.

Kukui Maunakea-Forth

There’s no one right way. And we’ve all sort of figured out this thing that we bring everything to the table, you put it down, if your idea is better than ours, then hey, we’re gonna go with your idea. And that’s how it even happened with that very first class.

Stacy Sproat-Beck

Things have really just grown like crazy since then, and gone in an amazing direction. I feel like the lessons learned from those really hard times are kind of what maybe grounds me and the organization in sort of humility and remembering that things don’t always come easy.

Richard Ha

Pop taught us a lot of lessons, and it had to do with survival. Just do what you gotta do, and plan for the future, and you know, make decisions. You gotta do it, do it now, kinda thing like that.

NĀ MELE features the traditional Hawaiian music of Darlene Ahuna and the late Kawai Cockett. In this vintage performance, Kawai Cockett is backed by Sam Sepitmo and Charlie Wahineho‘okae. Joining Darlene Ahuna are her husband J.J. Ahuna and Led Kaapana. Ha‘aheo Cockett provides hula artistry.

On most Friday evenings, slack key artist Ledward Kaapana gets together with his neighbors to share potluck dishes, laughter and music. For Ledward, it’s a tradition that goes back to his younger days in Kalapana on the island of Hawaii. “When I was growing up, we used to have kani ka pila…everybody sit down and enjoy, listen to music,” Ledward remembers. This special Na Mele features Ledward and his sisters Lei Aken, Lehua Nash and Rhoda Kekona, playing their music in Ledward’s garage. Ledward’s falsetto voice leads off with “Nani,” and Lei, Lehua and Rhoda take vocal solos on “Kaneohe,” “Kalapana” and “Holei.”

The 19th century was a time of devastating change for the Hawaiian people. This documentary looks at the visionary efforts of five members of the ali’i, Hawaiian royalty, to provide for the education of the children, healthcare and comfort for the elderly. The charitable institutions they created have endured and are thriving and vital institutions today.

Keali‘i Reichel has long established himself as one of Hawai‘i’s premier artists. His dedication to the perpetuation of Hawaiian language, song, chanting and hula has evolved into unique and personal performances that showcase the depth of Hawaiian culture for international audiences. This performance, recorded at the PBS Hawai‘i studio, excellently showcases his artistry.